What does the word fail mean to you? It has taken me many years to truly understand the concept of what it means to fail forward. I have always told my coachees  that there is no such thing as failure but perhaps I have got it all wrong?

When a teen came into a coaching session crying about the fact that she had failed her Maths test, I felt it was time to come clean. When at University doing my Masters Degree in Clinical Child Psychology, I was forced to do statistics for quantitative research. I explained that I was a qualitative researcher and that I wouldn’t need the skills, but nonetheless to pass my module our entire class needed to do the assignments. On my first assignment our class average was 30% and my mark was well below this average….in fact I got 16%.

I remember how I felt and how disappointed I was at failing the assignment since it pulled down my overall average score which up until that stage had been straight A’s. As a high achiever, this was completely unfamiliar t...

DISCLAIMER: All words below my own original ideas and generated by me as an author, writer and pioneer in play based coaching. No AI was used to generate these suggestions and they are not generic but based on my real experience working with real people since 2003. 

I was having a discussion with a very accomplished and established Kids Life Coach (by her own account) a long while ago. It went something like this...

"When can I share time with you to learn directly from you?" she asked.

My answer..."I show up every week in the zoom room with our global network of members coaching children around the world and I support our premium students personally. Join us! "

She then said this...

"Ummm...but that costs a fee doesn't it?"

"Yes." I said without hesitation. 

"Oh."

The conversation didn't stop there. In fact, she went on to explain all the reasons why she wasn't willing to invest into good robust ethical Kids Life Coach Training and professional supervision for herself. None of...

There is one question I still get asked by the Kids Life Coaches that I mentor and train. "How did you build your business before technology was available to help you?"

So let me unpack this for you very gently and slowly so you don't miss anything. All of this very very easy to do and anybody can STILL do it, even in the age of AI!

I built my business quickly and easily based on only three things:

1. Good old fashioned relationship building,

2. A foundation of ethical business practices,

3 Offering a repeatable system with measurable results tailor made for every child

So what has changed since I started coaching children in 2003, long before AI, online coaching platforms and social media became part of everyday business?

Back then, I created every resource by hand. I spent evenings planning coaching activities, making games, designing confidence-building exercises and writing resources for parents and children. It took time, but I loved it because I knew every activity had a ...

DISCLAIMER: All words written by my own brain using my own experience and not crafted with artificial unverified help.

For many years I have given away my time for free! Yes....for FREE! Despite telling all of the students that I supervise and mentor not to do this very thing. Here is the truth....I don't do this with my 'actual' clients. The parents who enrol their children in my coaching programmes. They understand my worth and they pay me my fee without question. I only (used to) do this with people who wanted to enrol in my Kids Life Coach training! 

The AHA moment came when during a supervision session with our global network of  Kids Life Studio® alumni coaches, I was telling them to value their time. I explained that when we give parts of ourselves away for in 'free discovery calls' or 'free enrolment in a taster session' or 'free products' and 'free (fill in the blank!)' this is you wanting to verify your worth. 

It is almost like test driving a car before buying. BUT...we ...

Having trained and mentored kids life coaches globally, I have noticed something interesting. Many are incredibly talented. The right training in place, the passion, and a genuine desire to make a difference in children's lives. Passion and a deep care for  helping young people become more confident, resilient, and emotionally healthy.

Yet many of them struggle to get clients.

At first, they assume the problem is their website, their social media, or their pricing, but after my mentorship, they see a pattern emerge.

The biggest mistake isn't their coaching. It is that they are trying to help everyone.Having done this myself previously and recently almost falling prey to this again...I completely understand why this happens.

Most kids life coaches don't get into this profession because they're interested in marketing. They do it because they love helping children. The idea of narrowing their focus can feel uncomfortable, almost as though they're excluding children who need support.

Disclaimer: This entire blog is derived from my own mind with my own words and my own ideas. None of this has been generated by AI. If you want the real deal, read on!

What is success to you as a Kids Life Coach? How do you measure if you are doing well or not? This is something most novice coaches miss out on entirely. Simply because you don't know what you don't know until you know what you know!

That being said, the most seasoned life coaches for children are the one's who understand these three metrics of success on a deep intuitive level:

1. Client transformation is easy to quantify (when you know how!)

2. What can be measured, can be managed (if you have the right tools!)

3. Inner work is more than just window-dressing (when you surround yourself with the right people!)

As the founder of Kids Life Studio® and having coached children since 2003, my metrics of success are dependent on the success of the children that I coach. Yet, I have seen that the success of the children ...

A short while ago, a client asked me about my qualifications to coach their child. I blinked. Hesitated for a brief second and then went on to explain. 

My hesitation was not because I didn't like the question, but because I have been coaching children since 2003 and I have only ever been asked this question twice. Once at the beginning of my career and now over two decades later. 

This has got nothing to do with me and my qualifications or my accreditations, but everything to do with this parent who is wise, articulate, educated and...mistrusting. You see, they have had bad experiences with ICF-accredited coaches. They told me they don't trust in the "system" designed by default to protect the consumer by assuring them that coaching standards have been met. In fact, they mentioned a very high profile figure that you will all know...that didn't work ethically. They felt sceptical and wanted verification. 

So how did I answer this client?

I told them that accredited coaches lose cli...

When I first started my Kids Life Coaching practice in 2003, I understood the value of play in supporting children to overcome their challenges, build confidence or reinforce their resilience. Yet, I found myself constantly having to plan, create and invent new ideas. Coming from a teaching and counselling background, my mind was already primed for this BUT I didn't understand the theoretical underpinnings of a robust coaching programme.

Given that there was nobody to follow or to teach me, I quickly learnt to forfeit complexity and to keep things simpler. Like the time I encouraged a little boy to made a simple paper aeroplane in a coaching session.  He was having a particularly bad day and he wrote his worries on the paper before he folded it.I was also having an upside down day, so I folded my own plane. We then had races to see whose plane would go the furtherest. Lots of laughs and lots of fun! We ended this spontaneous worry activity by 'flying our worries into a bin'. Not only ...

DISCLAIMER...do NOT read this if you are not ready to hear the truth about Play Based Coaching. This is not AI generated and solely my own thoughts and writing. 

I remember the days I used to feel so overwhelmed by the everyday admin of running my very own Kids Life Coaching practice. It was way back in 2003 when I was still teaching and supporting children as a school counsellor.

I had this HUGE dream...it was to transform children's minds and to support families to navigate the ups and downs of life. I had seen it for too long in my classroom.

Children struggling to learn, parents not knowing what to do and teachers almost always referring them to psychologists for therapy. 

I knew there was a better way, which led to me launching my kids life coaching practice part-time while still hanging onto my job that I loved. I had just finished my Honours Degree in Education and I piloted a family programme that I had designed as one of my assignments. The uptake was so positive and the results so profound that parents started asking me for individual coaching sessions. 

So I built what the parents asked for. A Play Based Coaching System® that was...